00:00I think it's important to level set that first of all that the president has reopened the world to
00:05American goods and from my perspective American agricultural goods which is part of the the big
00:11reason and solution that we need for our farmers and ranchers. With regards to Canada the president
00:15has been very clear for the last year and a half that the way they treat our dairy farmers in
00:22America is just not it is not going to continue any longer that the intent of the USMCA and and
00:30other
00:30deals that went went on was that our American dairy farmers would be treated as they deserve to be
00:36treated and in fact what has happened with the way that Canada is applying is sometimes a 200 300
00:43extra tariff on milk and dairy products going into Canada so I know listen I don't want to go much
00:50deeper than that because I certainly don't want to get into the president or our incredible trade
00:54rep Jameson Greer who's in the middle of those negotiations but from an agriculture perspective
00:58and specifically to our dairy farmers the importance that that we are battling for you battling for that
01:05extra access making sure that we're opening up the markets around the world which we are but also
01:10making sure that you're treated fairly by countries like Canada. Thank you. You've certainly seen the
01:15reactions the suspension of tariffs on ground beef from Republicans who say this is the wrong
01:20move ranchers who are concerned about how this is going to impact them is the administration
01:24reconsidering that policy? Well a couple of things on the president's announcement Friday morning
01:30on a temporary 90-day importation of 300,000 metric tons of ground beef I want to make sure that's
01:39very
01:39clear the way that we consume beef in America we consume about 13 million metric tons every year
01:46about 11 million metric tons give or take we we raise here we produce here we do have the best
01:52beef
01:52in the world our genetics are incredible in this country two to three million metric tons a year we do
01:57import almost and that's year over year that's nothing unusual of that two to three million metric tons
02:03that we import that's mostly lean or ground beef so that's why when the president announced I think it
02:09even said in his truth on Friday morning is specific to ground beef he is working to fill a gap
02:15a pretty big
02:16gap in the supply chain from ground beef of course you've all heard we have the lowest cattle herd number
02:22on record that really came down under the last administration that wasn't a big you know cattle
02:28administration we've now begun to change that our numbers two weeks ago show for the first time in 10
02:33years we have heifer retention going up so the good news is long term we're stabilizing but for the short
02:39term the president felt very convicted that as American consumers are paying more for beef
02:45not our fault our administration's fault but as they are that short temporary fix was important
02:51one other point though that I think will help tell the story a little bit better 14 15 months ago
02:56we closed the ports along the southern border and stopped all importation of Mexican live cattle
03:03the reason we did that of course is because of the new world screw worm which we thought was eradicated
03:08in
03:08the 50s came back in 2021 2022 made its way up toward the united states and towards our border states
03:15cattle
03:15states and so we closed those ports 14 months ago just opened yesterday the first port in Douglas Arizona
03:22so we're now starting the movement of live cattle again but in that 14 or 15 months that was that
03:28equals
03:28about a million point four head of cattle that would have come into our country that did not and those
03:34are
03:34all lean cattle that's all ground beef cattle basically so when you look at the 300 000 metric
03:40tons the president announced that equals between 500 000 and 700 000 head of cattle so that still
03:46doesn't even get us back to where we would have been if we hadn't had to close the port for
03:52the screw
03:52worm but I think the final thing to say is this that I don't believe there has ever been a
03:59president more focused on agriculture or rural America or our ranchers and our farmers than this
04:05president that the long-term fight to open up more grazing land to uh to ensure that our ranchers have
04:14what they need to build their herd to make sure that we've got a stable market yesterday we announced
04:19harvest to hallways Bobby Kennedy and I did which is a complete is that your question I'll go to you
04:24next
04:24which is a complete recalibration of our school lunches putting real food back at the center of
04:29school lunches protein the new dietary guidelines is obviously at the very top of that for the first
04:35time and so what that means for our cattle ranchers for our agriculture producers in America yesterday the
04:41announcement on procuring more locally produced nutrient dense food instead of opening up school
04:46lunches out of a plastic bag and sticking them into a microwave which is what a lot of our schools
04:50are
04:50doing now we are going to change that it may cost a little bit more money but we are in
04:55this for the
04:56long run we are in this to support our ranchers and our farmers and we will make sure that we
05:01are
05:01doing everything necessary to rebuild the herd to bring the cost of inputs down to open up the world
05:07markets while opening up the domestic markets as well go ahead sir yes go ahead and then we'll finish
05:20with you i am not privy to talk about that i think the conversations are still going on and that's
05:26uh
05:26ambassador greer who's finalizing what exactly that looks like and i think the president's involved in
05:31that as well thank you yes the president announced that we're making it sound like there isn't really a
05:37plan essentially for how they're going to step up these important important side for mexico did he
05:43consult with you before he made that announcement you know he and i have talked a lot about this for
05:47a very very long time uh i have not talked to him specifically about this specific announcement and
05:53what that looks like but i do know he's working very very closely with jameson greer on it yes and
05:57then
05:57we'll finish with you yes go ahead roland i'm gonna go back to canada for a second because they're
06:01planning to match the us's a tariff for tariff at this point what's your concern for the impact on
06:05american producers and consumers and even that we have seen challenges with inflation and economic
06:11concerns how long can they sustain uh this situation well you know again i don't want to get ahead of
06:17the president he is from my perspective the ultimate negotiator i've seen a lot of people doubt uh his
06:23decisions and and then i've seen them always work out uh in the trade realm especially and uh and i'm
06:29just i'm really proud that he's willing to stand up and uh and make the hard decisions there's no doubt
06:35that it causes concern amongst our farmers and ranchers as it is a lot of unknown out there but
06:42as the group of men and women and communities that have been his most avid supporters from the moment
06:49he came down the escalator in 2015 he has uh our ag producers at the very top of the list
06:55and we've seen
06:55this with all of the trade deals uh every one of those 20 new trade deals whether it's soybeans or
07:01cotton
07:02or beef or dairy ag is always at the top and uh and that's because he has made it so
07:07and and i believe
07:08strongly that once they finish this next round of negotiations or whatever you want to call it
07:13that uh america will certainly be the better for it and that uh and that our farmers and ranchers will
07:18benefit the most
07:18you
